Shiba House Gets Heated
by Lily Hanson
Summary: Follows A Big Scare. With so much tension brewing in the Shiba Household, it's only a matter of time before things blow up.
1. Kevin's Blow Up

_Disclaimer: I do not own anything_

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><p>Jayden crawled out of his room after what felt like months. Truth be told, it had only been a couple of weeks since he had isolated himself away from his teammates, but it felt like so much longer.<p>

The guilt was eating at him. The screams, the looks, the horror, the hatred, the panic… none of it ever left him. He knew he had done what he had done for the good of the Earth and that, as Samurai Rangers, each and every one of them were responsible for putting the safety of the planet ahead of their own safety, but none of that could put Jayden's mind at ease.

He remembered seeing it for the first time. When he saw Kevin squirming around on the floor in pain, he himself had been terrified. Right then and there, his first thought had been to protect his friends. He took the pain away from Kevin and kept him pain free until a solution could be found. Unfortunately, the solution wasn't a good one and it had cost him everything.

His team wouldn't look at him anymore. They wouldn't speak to him, they wouldn't acknowledge him. They refused to train with him. They went out to dinner without him. They played games without him. He didn't like it, but he knew they were just doing it to keep themselves safe. He could read his own mind, but they couldn't. They didn't know he truly hated himself for what he felt he had been forced to do.

As he stepped out into the common room he spotted Kevin and Emily. He quickly looked around for the rest of his friends. He knew Antonio was out selling fish. Antonio his only friend who still talked to him, but words were always few and far between. Antonio would usually only address Jayden to tell him he was leaving the house. It was nothing special. Nothing like what they used to have together.

Mike and Mia were nowhere in sight and the house was quiet. Jayden assumed they were out as well.

He stepped further into the common room and took a seat. He noticed Kevin glaring hatefully at him and glanced away nervously. His eyes fell on Emily. She had a small look of hate in her eye, but there was also worry and fear. Jayden lowered his head and stared at his shoes as he forgot why he wanted to leave his room.

"You could have at least made yourself decent," Kevin muttered. Jayden smiled inwardly. It had been weeks since he had heard Kevin's voice.

"I'm sorry."

"If you're trying to look like shit so we'll pity you, it won't work," Kevin growled. "There's nothing you can do to help yourself, Jayden. You're better off just climbing back into your hole and staying there."

"Kevin…"

"Emily, it's fine. I deserve it," Jayden sighed. He then glanced over at Kevin and saw the blue Ranger boiling with rage.

"Not a word to her," Kevin said. Jayden saw from Kevin's body language that he was ready to kill. The blue Ranger was truly pissed off and Jayden knew the longer they were in the same room together, the more his anger would grow. He didn't want Kevin angry so he got up to leave.

Kevin scoffed and shook his head, "You coward. Go run and hide for another couple of weeks."

"Kevin…"

"Emily, it's fine…"

"What did I say?" Kevin shouted to Jayden and lunged forward. Emily caught Kevin's arm and when he felt her pull he stopped. He stood before her protectively and glared at Jayden as the red Ranger walked away. "You're the worst kind of monster there is, Jayden. You're pathetic!"

"Kevin, stop!" Emily demanded. Kevin looked down at her and it only made him hate Jayden more. After everything Jayden had done to Emily, she still didn't want Kevin treating him poorly. He clenched his fists. This was far from over.

He followed Jayden down the hallway. He heard footsteps behind him and knew Emily was coming with him, most likely to try and stop him from yelling at Jayden when the red Ranger deserved it. Kevin caught up to Jayden and grabbed him by the shoulder. He spun him around.

"After everything you put us through, you're just going to run away?"

"Kevin, you're angry," Jayden tried to remain as calm as possible, but that only seemed to make things worse. It was almost like Kevin wanted to see him turn into a monster. "We can talk about this later."

"No," Kevin shook his head. Emily grabbed his arm and started pulling.

"Kevin, don't do this," she told him.

"You don't get to make the calls here, Jayden," Kevin snarled as he stared down his leader, "the last call you made tortured all of us."

"Kevin, if you knew what I knew…"

"Was there really no other way, Jayden?" Kevin interrupted. He didn't care what Jayden had to say. Nothing he said could make the situation better. "Was it really just a torture or die scenario? Or are you just saying it was because you loved to watch us all suffer."

"If I wanted to see you suffer don't you think Mia would have had her Stone programmed by now?"

Jayden could feel the anger, hatred, and tension build up in the hallway as those words left his mouth. He thought Kevin had been protective of Emily, but the second Mia's name slipped from his mouth Kevin's guard doubled. The next thing the red Ranger knew, he was pinned up against the wall, his feet were off the ground, the back of his head was sore, and he had an angry Kevin's face only inches from his own.

"I don't even want you looking at her," Kevin whispered with a growl, "and if I see the Black Box in your hand, I don't care what your intentions are, you're dead."

"Kevin, stop it!" Emily screamed as she pulled on Kevin's arm, but the man wouldn't budge. He continued to glare at Jayden and Emily was scared one of them would do or say something they would really regret.

She heard the front door open and knew that meant someone was coming home. Antonio, Mike, or Mia, Emily didn't care as long as they would be able to break Kevin and Jayden up. She let go of her older brother and raced to the front entrance. To her relief she saw Mia and Mike taking off their shoes. They had gone out for the afternoon when Mia told Mike she wanted to have a conversation with him in private. After her pregnancy scare she wanted Mike talk with Mike about relationships and the dangers of moving too quickly. She knew Emily had gotten the scare along with her when she first told the yellow Ranger her period was late, and Kevin was very well aware after she sat down and spoke with him. Mike was the only one Mia was still talking to who was out of the loop. She figured he deserved to know what happened.

Emily didn't have time to ask how their conversation went. She ran right up to Mia and started pulling her older sister along.

"Kevin and Jayden are fighting," she explained quickly. "You have to stop it! Kevin's really mad!"

"He should be," Mike said. "What Jayden did was unforgivable."

"But it's still Jayden," Emily said. She dragged Mia down the hallway and Mike followed. Just as the three of them turned the corner they saw Kevin punching Jayden across the face. The red Ranger fell hard to the ground.

"Kevin!" Mia shouted. It felt good to see her fiancé punching Jayden but she knew she had to put a stop to this before it escalated. Kevin turned around when he heard her voice. Mia walked between him and Jayden and pushed Kevin away from the red Samurai. "That's enough."

"Mia…"

"That's enough," she repeated.

Emily knelt down beside Jayden, "Are you okay?" she reached over to check his face but Jayden pushed her away.

"I deserved it…"

Mike's fists clenched when he saw Jayden pushing his girlfriend. Emily had been nothing but nice to Jayden, especially given the circumstances, and he had the nerve to push her away like she was in the wrong.

"You could at least answer her question," he said. "The one person here who has even a shred of sympathy for you and you throw her away like garbage?"

Jayden looked at Emily, "Sorry, Em…"

"Don't talk to her," Mike quickly interrupted. He pointed down the hallway, "Just get lost, dude. You've caused enough trouble."

Jayden lowered his head in shame, picked himself up off the floor and walked the rest of his way back to his room.

While Mike helped Emily back to her feet, Mia glared up at Kevin.

"You didn't have to punch him, Kev."

"Didn't I?" Kevin grumbled. "He should have known it was coming. He's the one who showed his face. I wasn't looking for trouble."

Mia looked up at her fiancé for a moment before turning to Emily, "What happened?"

"Mia!" Kevin frowned but Mia didn't listen. She kept her eyes on Emily. The yellow Ranger shrank away. She didn't want to lie, but she didn't want to get Kevin in trouble with Mia.

"I tried to stop it…"

"Emy, what happened?"

"I…" Emily looked around at the three faces staring at her, "I…"

"No one's going to get in trouble, Em," Mike assured her. "Just tell us what happened."

"I don't know," Emily shrugged her shoulders. "Jayden just… came out and…"

"See," Kevin said. "Jayden came out of his room. I didn't go after him! I didn't ask him to come out. He…"

"Kevin," Mia said gently, though there was an undertone of anger, "don't interrupt."

Emily looked at her feet, "Kevin was mad at Jayden. He chased him away…"

"Jayden didn't run very far," Mike commented. "That or he came back…"

"Kevin followed him," Emily looked at Kevin apologetically. Kevin sighed. He turned his attention to Mia.

"Okay… so I did follow him, but what kind of man runs away? He came out here and pissed me off…"

"Maybe he was going to apologize," Emily suggested. "It can't be easy to do…"

"An apology isn't going to make things better, Emily," Kevin told her. "An apology is just words. It won't take away the hurt or the nightmares, will it?"

"No…"

Mia placed her hand on Kevin's chest, "Just stay away from Jayden from now on, okay?" she told her fiancé. "If he comes out of his room and you can't keep your mouth shut or your hands to yourself, walk away."

"He deserved that," Kevin said.

"I'm not saying he didn't," Mia nodded, "but it's not up to you to punish him."

"Are you saying some higher power will punish him?" Kevin asked. "The Samurai Gods? The Guardian of all things good and sacred?"

"No," Mia quickly looked over her shoulder at Jayden's door, "but if he really is the Jayden we all hope he is, you know he's beating himself up."

"Or, he's in there laughing at us," Kevin scoffed.

"Jayden's not doing that," Emily shook her head. "He cares about us…"

"Cares so much he brought you out into the middle of nowhere and tortured you?" Kevin snapped.

Mike wrapped his arms around Emily and glared at Kevin, "Stop it, dude. You're pissed, we get it. Either shut up or get out of the house."

Kevin glared back at Mike and for a moment there was silence. Finally he let out a long breath, "I'm sorry. You're right."

"Good," Mia sighed. She wrapped her arm around Kevin's waist and hugged him, "Can we please go back to ignoring Jayden? The house is much quieter when we do."

"Lead the way," Kevin nodded and gestured to the common room.

While Mia and Kevin walked away, Mike looked down at Emily and kissed her forehead.

"Things will get better, I promise."

"I hope so," Emily nodded her head sadly. "I want to go home."

"Me too," Mike hugged her tight.


	2. Mike's Fear and Pain

_Disclaimer: I do not own anything_

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><p>Mike was pulled roughly from his sleep and sat up straight in his bed. His breathes were quick and deep and there was a layer of sweat covering his entire face and neck. His hands shook and his heart raced as he looked around the room and realised he was in his own bedroom, safe and sound.<p>

Things had not been smooth in the Shiba House since Jayden's lies had been exposed. The Rangers didn't feel like they could trust their leader and that caused most of them to feel threatened. Mike didn't feel safe. With the team so divided and angry something terrible was going to happen.

It had been a few days since Jayden had come out of his room and Kevin had struck him. Even before then Mike had been getting nightmares, but since that day they had gotten worse. He was worried about what could happen to the team now that they were all so broken. If Jayden, the big hero, the man who would save everyone, could hurt his team so badly, there was no telling what he or the others were capable of. He felt like his team was headed straight for hell and there was nothing he could do to stop it.

His nightmares usually consisted of him watching one of his friends betray the team. It started with Jayden aligning himself with Master Xandred, but as the days passed the betrayal spread to the other members of the team. Mike had dreamt of Kevin turning his back on everyone, including Mia, and joining forces with the Nighlok to ensure the death of the red Ranger. Mike had to watch Kevin slay Jayden before his very eyes, and then, Kevin had no choice but to kill Mike, Antonio and the girls so Master Xandred could have his way and flood the Earth with the Water from the Sanzu River.

Another nightmare he had was of Antonio betraying the team. Not all was forgiven, but Mike was a lot more comfortable around Antonio than he was with Jayden. He could understand why Antonio felt he had to program the box, even though he didn't want to. Jayden was ordering him to do so, and just like everyone else, Antonio had put his faith in Jayden and hoped everything would work out like the red Ranger promised.

Mike's nightmares about Antonio were just as bad as the ones with Kevin. In his nightmares, Antonio felt so guilty for the pain he caused the Rangers that he left himself become a Nighlok and felt he had no other choice but to continue on a path of death and destruction. Antonio was so stricken with grief he assumed he was no longer one of the good guys and condemned himself to a life of evil. Again, Mike had to sit and watch as each of his friends were picked off one by one by Antonio.

Then there came the nightmares of Mia's betrayal. In the nightmares, Mia wouldn't permanently align herself with Master Xandred or turn herself into a Nighlok. Instead, she would give away the Samurai secrets to the lord of the Nighlok, essentially giving him the key to the destruction of the Rangers and a free pass to taking over the world. She would usually die along with the Rangers in Mike's nightmare, but that didn't make her betrayal any less shameful. She was still the reason Mike and the others all died.

Finally, Mike's most recent nightmare was of him betraying the team. These were the worst for him and shook him to his very core. He was forced to watch himself turn into the most despicable monster he's ever seen. A ruthlessly monster who would stop at nothing to get what he wanted, and what he wanted was to feel safe. His nightmares always began with him killing Jayden in cold blood. To Mike, this was disgusting, but it made sense. He didn't feel safe around Jayden, and the only way to keep Jayden from betraying him again was to kill him. He hated himself for even thinking it, but at least he could understand what his mind was trying to tell him.

But that would always be where things got worse. Mike would always realise that everyone was capable of betraying him and he would move onto his friends. Kevin would usually be the next to kill. Of everyone left on the team, Kevin was the most likely to turn on Mike and cause him pain. After Kevin it would always be Antonio and then Mia.

Mike always wished he would wake up here, but he never did. No matter how lucid the dream he could never stop himself from attacking his next victim. The worst part about this was that he would always use his hands. With Jayden, Kevin, Mia and Antonio there was always a weapon involved. But when it came to Emily, Mike would literally squeeze the life out of her until she hung lifeless in his arms.

With shaking hands, Mike threw the blankets off and hung his legs over the side of the bed. He rubbed his face with his hands and took a few deep breathes. He had threatened to hurt his friends many times, but he was not a murderer. No matter how hurt he was by Jayden's betrayal, he would never kill Jayden, or the other Rangers for that matter. He wasn't completely sure they would never hurt him, but given how close he felt to them, and how close he assumed they felt to him, he knew it was a smart move putting his trust in them.

He got out of bed and walked to the door, completely ignoring Emily sleeping in her bed on the other side of the room. He could still feel her lifeless body in his arms and he didn't want to go near her just yet. He walked to the kitchen and turned on the light. He suddenly jumped with fright when he saw Jayden sitting at the table.

"Dude," he growled, "you're not helping yourself! Don't fucking scare me like that!"

"Sorry," Jayden actually sounded apologetic, "this is the only time I can come out of my room… But I guess I'll just go now that you're here."

Mike watched Jayden gather up his cup, plate and book as scurry for the door. Before the red Ranger disappeared into the dark hallway, Mike called his name. He waited for Jayden to turn around before speaking up again.

"Why?" he asked. "Why did you do it? Why did you think it was smart to lie to us? Why couldn't you be honest?"

"I'm not easy, Mike…"

"Damn right it's not!" Mike shouted, though he kept his voice low enough so he wouldn't wake the rest of the house. "Betraying your entire team, your team of friends, shouldn't be easy! It should be so hard, it's impossible!"

"This wasn't what I intended," Jayden explained. "I wasn't lying to betray you. I was lying to keep you all calm. What I hoped for…"

"I don't care!" Mike shook his head, "I don't care about what you think was going to happen. I don't care about what was supposed to happen. What if you had killed one of us, Jayden?"

"I wouldn't have…"

"The Stones could have done anything!" Mike screamed. "Opening a fucking box nearly killed Emily! After watching Kevin suffer did you think she was just going to breeze through her programming?"

"I just thought…"

"You didn't think it through! You were careless, Jayden, and you put the entire team in so much danger!"

"I…"

"Kevin should have been the only one to suffer," Mike gritted his teeth. "What happened to Kevin was truly an accident and if you had any kind of respect for Kevin, or anyone else on the team, you would have protected us from suffering like he did. Mistakes happened, but trust me, dude, they aren't worth shit if you don't learn from them."

Jayden lowered his head and sighed, "I'm sorry, Mike…"

"Don't apologise to me, you monster," Mike clenched his fists. "I volunteered for my programming. That was my choice. I'm not mad at you for that…"

"I'll apologize to Emily in the morning…"

"No, you won't," Mike shook his head. "That ship has sailed. You had plenty of time to apologize to her before now and you didn't. That speaks volumes, dude. You obviously don't give a damn about her or anyone else on this team…"

"I do…"

"Shut up!" Mike felt the tears welling up in his eyes as he glared at Jayden. "You hurt us all, Jayden. I'm scared of you and I'm scared of what's going to happen now that we're falling apart. I don't worry about these things… not normally. You haven't done anything to fix your mistakes. How can we learn to trust you again?"

"I'm really sorry, Mike. I promise…"

"Don't lie to me," Mike shook his head and turned to leave before he really made himself vulnerable in front of a man he couldn't trust. As he walked through the dark hallway he could have sworn her heard Jayden crying. He ignored it, though, and opened the door to his bedroom. He glanced over at Emily's bed and slowly made his way over. He crawled in next to her and wrapped himself up in the blankets before pulling her into him and holding her close. This woke Emily up and she looked at Mike. Her eyes told the green Ranger she was worried and he was sure she had seen his tears.

"Mike…"

"Just a nightmare, Em; go back to sleep."

"Are you okay? Do you want to talk about it?"

He pulled her in even closer and kissed her, "No… just stay with me."


	3. Lying to Protect

Kevin was the very first person to wake up in the mornings now. Without a leader, routine had been thrown right out the window. Morning training usually took place in the afternoon, breakfast would be for lunch, take-out food or leftovers would be for dinner and everyone was always scattered around the house.

The one thing that didn't change, though, was Kevin's routine. He was still up every morning at 6:00 AM. He walked to the kitchen with his feet dragging on the cold hardwood floors. About halfway to the kitchen he heard footsteps and clicking behind him. He glanced over his shoulder to see Scruffy walking behind him excitedly. Because Kevin was always the first person awake, it was his responsibility to feed the dog in the morning.

He walked to the kitchen cupboards and pulled out Scruffy's dog food before dropping the exact right portion in Scruffy's bowl. While the dog ate, Kevin filled up his water bowl for the day and then set it next to the dog.

Now it was his turn to find a meal. He opened the fridge and instantly frowned. There were five pre-made breakfast plates already sitting there waiting for the Rangers to eat. On each plate was a note written in red ink.

_I don't know how to make up for what I've done, but I guess I can start by making life a little easier for all of you._

Kevin tossed the note aside and grabbed the plate. He set it in the microwave to warm up. When the microwave beeped he pulled out his breakfast and began eating it. There was no sense walking over to the table. He had no one to dine with.

He saw Scruffy eyeing his food hopefully and shook his head.

"Sorry, boy. This is my food."

Scruffy whined and nudged Kevin's leg with his nose. The blue Ranger sighed and ripped off a piece of his hashbrown and feed it to the dog. Scruffy was instantly grateful as he chewed on the food and Kevin laughed when he realised Scruffy would now be his best friend forever. He pet the top of the dog's head.

"You're easy to please."

Scruffy's ears perked up and suddenly the dog took off running towards the bedrooms. Kevin shook his head and smiled as he watched Scruffy race off. Suddenly he heard an "oof" and a thump from the hallway. Setting down the rest of his hashbrown on a plate, he went to see what had made that noise.

"Why am I not surprised?" he smirked when he saw Scruffy was standing over Emily and licking her face. He pulled Scruffy off the yellow Ranger and helped her to her feet.

"Every morning," Emily huffed and glared at her dog. "You love me too much."

"Stop feeding him," Kevin said, "it's the key to his heart."

Emily nodded her head in agreement before making her way to the kitchen and taking a seat at the table. Kevin went to grab her plate of food from the fridge and he placed it in the microwave. Emily frowned.

"It's not that I'm ungrateful," she said, "but normally when I wake up I have a warm, fresh meal, cooked with love, by you."

"Jayden made these," Kevin answered her. "He's trying to kiss up, I guess."

"Oh…"

"Don't worry, it's safe to eat," Kevin grabbed her food from the microwave and set it in front of her, "I tried it myself."

"I never thought otherwise," Emily said as she began to pick at her food. Kevin noticed there was something different about Emily. She wasn't in her most active state this early in the morning, but there was usually a little more bounce. Something seemed to be troubling her, so he took a seat opposite of her on the table and looked at her.

"Speak."

Scruffy barked and wagged his tail as he waited for a treat. Emily chuckled and tossed him a piece of her breakfast sausage.

"I was actually talking to Emily," Kevin laughed and then began to feign hurt when he saw Scruffy cuddling up with Emily, "I thought we had something special, Scruffy."

"Why do I need to speak?" Emily asked Kevin. He gestured to her plate.

"Scruffy's eaten more than you," he looked at her sympathetically, "Did you sleep okay?"

"It's Mike…"

"Is he okay?"

"He slept in my bed last night," Emily noticed Kevin's fists clench and knew she had to speak quickly, "I didn't mind, it wasn't like that. It's just… he seemed upset."

"About what?" Kevin relaxed just a little bit.

"I don't know," Emily poked her food, "I think I saw tears… I think he had been crying."

"Mike's been having a few nightmares," Kevin nodded. His best friend had shared that information with him and while Mike hadn't gone into detail, Kevin knew the nightmares were upsetting Mike. If they were anything like the nightmares Kevin had been having, they were terrifying.

"I know… but normally he just gets up, walks around and then goes back to sleep in his own bed. Last night was different."

"We're all a little unsettled, Em," Kevin shrugged. "It's a bit scary for all of us. Maybe Mike just needed someone last night."

"Is Jayden really our biggest problem?" Emily looked up at Kevin. "Do we have to be mad at him?"

"It's complicated."

"He's our friend," Emily said. She pointed to her breakfast, "He still cares about us. Why does everyone want to forget about him?"

"He hurt us."

"I hurt myself all the time."

"But you don't lie to yourself."

"My parents lied to me," Emily muttered. "When Serena first got sick they told me it was nothing serious. They tried to cover it up by telling me she had an asthma attack and that she would get better. They knew she was really sick, though. They just didn't want to worry me. I believed them for the first few months."

"Why wouldn't you?" Kevin asked. "You were just a kid. You didn't know any better."

"Then she started getting worse and I started wondering why she was making so many trips to the hospital. Doctors were always in and out of our house, she was missing weeks of school. All her chores were passed on to me, and she moved out of our bedroom and got her own, bigger room. I thought my parents liked her better. One night I couldn't sleep, so I tried to go see if I could wake up Serena. I walked all the way to her room in the dark and jumped on her bed. She wasn't there. I thought she got up to get water or go to the bathroom, so I got under the blankets and waited for her. After a few hours she still wasn't back. I was really worried so I ran to my parents' room and woke my dad up. I was really crying. He took me downstairs and explained to me why Serena wasn't in her room. My mom had to take her to the hospital and she wouldn't be coming home for a long time. He told me everything."

"Em…" Kevin reached across the table and took Emily's hand. He knew Serena was healthy now, but it was still hard for Emily to relive those moments from her childhood. "I'm so sorry."

"That night I learned my parents had lied to me and I was mad at them for a long time. Then, I realised why they lied. They didn't want to scare me. They didn't want me to have to worry. I was only eight. I still wish they had told me the truth… but they did what they thought was best and they tried to protect me."

"You can't compare that to what Jayden did, though," Kevin said. "He…"

"Jayden's never hurt us before," Emily shrugged. "It's okay to be mad, I guess… but he's still our friend. There's no reason to be scared, right?"

"Nothing's going to happen, Em," Kevin promised.

"I don't like what he did," Emily said. "I am mad at him for that. And I'm still waiting for an apology, but I don't think I'm scared because of what he might do. What's going to happen to us?"

"I don't know…"

"If we can't trust Jayden who can we trust?" Emily asked. "He loves us, just like my parents loved me. He made a mistake. One mistake. Shouldn't we give him a second chance?"

"We don't want to risk it."

"But we'll get hurt either way. Master Xandred's really tough and we need to be a team if we stand a chance at defeating him. If we don't give Jayden a second chance, we'll be killed by the Nighlok faster than you can say 'have mercy'. If we do give Jayden a second chance… maybe he won't hurt us."

"We'll talk about it, okay?" Kevin squeezed Emily's hand gently. "We'll work at this. We'll make it all better, I promise."

"I want to go home."

Kevin got up from his seat and knelt down beside Emily. He pulled her into a hug. "Soon," he promised her.


End file.
